Polecat Safaris
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A girl standing on the bonnet of a safari vehicle while her parents watch and photograph a herd of gazelle and wildebeest on the plain

Family Safari

10-Day Great Migration Family Safari

Duration
10 Days
From
US$ 5,856 per person

Overview

Nine nights for families, built around two in the northern Serengeti while the herds are on the Mara River — with a walking safari in Arusha National Park, Tarangire, a cultural afternoon in Mto wa Mbu and a last morning on the crater floor.

  • Two nights and a full extra day in the northern Serengeti
  • Time to follow the migration and look for the Mara River crossings
  • Lodges and tented camps that take families properly
  • A private safari vehicle and a professional guide for your family alone
  • A walking safari in Arusha National Park, with an armed ranger
  • A cultural afternoon in Mto wa Mbu
  • The central Serengeti on the way north and on the way back
  • The Big Five on the Ngorongoro Crater floor
Duration
10 days, 9 nights
Destination
Arusha, Tarangire, the Serengeti & Ngorongoro
Stops
7
Experience
Family Safari
Best time
July – October

The route, and how far apart these places are

Arusha National Park · Tarangire · Mto wa Mbu · Karatu · Central Serengeti · Northern Serengeti · Ngorongoro

Route Map

Day by day

Every day here is private — your own guide and your own vehicle — so the order holds but the hours are yours to move.

Day 1 01

Arrival in Arusha

Your Polecat Safaris guide meets you at Kilimanjaro International Airport and drives you to Mount Meru Game Lodge.

A quiet first evening, which after a long flight with children is the right way to begin.

Meals
Dinner
Overnight
Mount Meru Game Lodge, Arusha
Mount Meru Game Lodge, Arusha

Your Stay

Mount Meru Game Lodge

Day 2 02

Arusha National Park, on Foot and by Vehicle

After breakfast, into Arusha National Park for a walking safari with an armed ranger, and then a game drive.

Forest, open glades and the Momella Lakes, with giraffe, buffalo, zebra, warthog and colobus monkeys to find — and a smaller, gentler park than the ones to come, which suits a first day.

Meals
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Overnight
Mount Meru Game Lodge, Arusha (Cont.)
Highlight
A walking safari with an armed ranger
Day 3 03

Tarangire National Park

West to Tarangire, the park of giant baobabs and the biggest elephant herds in the north.

A full day of game driving, and then Elephant Springs by Karibu Camps.

Meals
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Overnight
Elephant Springs by Karibu Camps, Tarangire
Elephant Springs by Karibu Camps, Tarangire (inside park)

Your Stay

Elephant Springs by Karibu Camps

Optional today

Day 4 04

Tarangire at First Light & Mto wa Mbu

An early game drive in Tarangire, before the park gets busy.

Then Mto wa Mbu, for a guided afternoon with the people who live there — the farms, the market and everyday Tanzanian life — before you carry on to Kitela Lodge in Karatu.

Meals
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Overnight
Kitela Lodge, Karatu
Highlight
A guided cultural afternoon in Mto wa Mbu
Kitela Lodge, Karatu

Your Stay

Kitela Lodge

Optional today

Day 5 05

Into the Central Serengeti

Through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and onto the Serengeti plains, with game along the way.

You stay at Sametu Camp, well placed for the Seronera country.

Meals
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Overnight
Sametu Camp, Central Serengeti
Sametu Camp, Central Serengeti

Your Stay

Sametu Camp

Day 6 06

North to the Mara River

After breakfast you drive north through the Serengeti, following the migration towards the Mara River.

Game viewing on the way, an afternoon drive once you arrive, and then Enkutoto Acacia Collection.

Meals
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Overnight
Enkutoto Acacia Collection, Northern Serengeti
Enkutoto Acacia Collection, Northern Serengeti

Your Stay

Enkutoto Acacia Collection

Day 7 07

A Full Day in the Northern Serengeti

The extra day — and the reason for it. The herds move when they move, and a crossing is something you wait for rather than book, so your guide spends the day following them and working the river.

Between the herds there is plenty else: lion, leopard, elephant, hyena and giraffe all live up here.

Meals
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Overnight
Enkutoto Acacia Collection, Northern Serengeti (Cont.)
Highlight
A full day to look for the Mara River crossings

Optional today

Day 8 08

Back Through the Serengeti

A last morning drive in the north, and then the long, game-filled road south across the plains.

You reach Sametu Camp in the central Serengeti in time for dinner.

Meals
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Overnight
Sametu Camp, Central Serengeti
Sametu Camp, Central Serengeti

Your Stay

Sametu Camp

Day 9 09

Central Serengeti to the Crater Rim

A morning game drive in the central Serengeti before you leave the park and climb into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

Lion’s Paw Camp sits near the crater rim — an afternoon to rest and take in the highlands before the descent.

Meals
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Overnight
Lion’s Paw Camp, Ngorongoro Crater rim
Lion's Paw Camp, Ngorongoro crater rim

Your Stay

Lion's Paw Camp

Day 10 10

The Ngorongoro Crater & Departure

An early breakfast and down onto the crater floor, to look for the Big Five — the endangered black rhino among them.

A picnic lunch, and then the drive back towards Arusha and on to Kilimanjaro International Airport for your flight home.

Meals
Breakfast & lunch
Highlight
The Big Five on the crater floor

What the rate covers

Everything below is settled before you travel. What isn’t covered is listed just as plainly, so nothing on this trip arrives as a surprise.

Included

  • A private 4×4 safari vehicle with a pop-up roof
  • A professional safari guide throughout
  • All accommodation during the safari
  • All meals, with vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and halal diets catered for
  • Unlimited-mileage game drives
  • All activities, unless marked as optional
  • All transport by road
  • Park fees
  • Airport transfers
  • Use of binoculars
  • Unlimited bottled water, and beer and wine in the vehicle
  • Taxes and VAT

Not included

  • International flights
  • Tanzanian entry visa — US$ 50, or US$ 100 for US citizens
  • Travel insurance, souvenirs and other personal items
  • Tips — our guideline is US$ 20 per person per day
  • Optional activities, such as the balloon flight

FAQs

When is the best time to see the migration?
July to October, when the herds reach the northern Serengeti and the Mara River crossings can happen.
Why the extra day in the north?
Because nobody can predict a crossing. A full day more on the river is what gives your family a real chance of being there when the herds go in.
Is this safari suitable for children?
Yes — it was planned with families in mind: wildlife, a cultural afternoon, comfortable distances and lodges that look after children well.
Will we see the Big Five?
The Ngorongoro Crater gives you one of the best chances in Africa to see all five in a single drive.
Is this a private safari?
Yes. The vehicle, the guide and the itinerary are yours alone — you share the day with nobody outside your own party.
Can the itinerary be changed?
Yes. Add Serengeti nights, a balloon flight, or a few days on Zanzibar at the end. Tell us what you have in mind and we will redraft it.

Travel this one

Four questions — what you'd like to see, who is coming and roughly when — and the team in Arusha comes back with dates, the camps that are open and what the 10-day rate looks like for your party. We reply within one working day.

Or reach them directly — +255 654 592 688 or WhatsApp.

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